Save the World

How to save the world. You probably clicked on this essay, because you thought 'what the fuck does that have to do with erotica?' It seems like a big subject. Perhaps too big. After all, there are thick books such as the Bible and the Koran that attempt to provide a one size fit all solution that has in fact been used by people to justify some of the most heroic and courageous acts...and some of the most evil.

My intent with this essay is not to start some new religion (as if I could), but rather to share three simple truths that life has taught me. I feel that by asking ourselves the hard questions and following these three steps we can all save the world...and live full lives. So what are these three simple steps?

First of all, decide who/what you are. We all have two natures: one for good and the other for evil. Don't be confused though about evil and what society and religion may see as sinful/wrong. I mean this topic hardly seems appropriate for an erotic website; especially written by a woman that boasts of two-hundred fifty-four lovers, two-sixty if you count same sex. But good and evil are far more complex than simple acts. There hard thing to grasp is the motives of the heart. Any action can be good or evil (except perhaps rape) based largely upon the circumstances of the person.

Wait a minute. Are you saying that even murder can be good? Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. Don't get me wrong here. I am not a proponent of the death penalty or war. But if someone were threatening the safety of my child, I would kill them. Would I just forget it and dismiss it as what I had to do? Hardly, every day I would think about that person; what they might have become, what horrible things may have happened to bring them to that place. But I could live with my actions and accept what I had done. It would not automatically make me evil.

So can I actually claim to be a good person and claim to have had sex with two-hundred and sixty people in a quarter of a century? Yes. Actually, my regrets are not about the people whom I had sex, but a few that I did not. How is that possible? After all, I admit having cheated on both my former partners and struggling to remain faithful even to the husband, whom I love with all my heart. The answer is simple...through it all; I have never purposely hurt anybody (myself included). I was always honest and upfront about what I wanted/needed. Did I hurt people? I am sure that I did; myself included. But the intent was not evil. So I can honestly say I do not have regrets.

Of course, you may ask 'who would choose evil.' I don't think most people mean to do so, but all along life's pathways we are given choices...little and big. In his book, As a Man Thinkth, James Allen postulates "it is not what happens to us that is important, it is how we react to it and what we do about it that matters most". The most obvious example is serial killers. If you look at their childhood, most were abused severely. But there are hundreds of other abused children, some of whom have far worse stories, who never become a killer. That person allowed what happened to him to take him down one path while others choose another.

I hope you will take a few moments to look deeply into your heart and honestly ask the tough questions. Why do I do it? Is it because of greed to have the latest thing, be the greatest author or even be better than so-and-so? Or is it because of an attempt, no matter how paltry, to do what is right or good? In fact, I dare say that the worse that we can do is never to ask those questions, but simply act without thought.

So, now you have looked into your heart, what is next? The difficult answer is to keep asking yourself those questions. Every day for the rest of your life. Every choice that you make from now on. Ask yourself...am I being true to who/what I truly am? It is the key to living a life without regrets. In fact, it is the key to living, rather than simply just existing.

Will you do it every day? Will every decision you make be true to yourself? Unless you are Buddha, Jesus Christ or another great prophet, the answer is almost certainly 'No.' There will be tough times when it seems that everything this world has to offer is against you, when you know what the 'right' thing is but simply do not have the energy to do it. But if you know who/what you are then eventually you will find your way back to that path. Perhaps you will have taken a detour, but even then if you have stayed true to yourself then you will find that you have not gone so far off that path that you cannot make your way back to the truth...your truth...whatever that is.

Shakespeare truly did have it right, when Hamlet spoke the words: "This above all: to thine ownself be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

But perhaps the greatest step of all is the third. For without this final step, you will become nothing more than a self-actualized monk sitting on some mountain top and not doing a god damned thing. In the words of the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'

A review of history proves this truth. Every great movement, religion or revolution began with a single act or decision. The American Revolution began with the Boston Tea Party. The civil rights movement began when Rosa Parks was too tired to stand and sat at the front of a bus. Christianity began with a twelve year old boy talking religion with the greatest teachers of the day.

One of my favourite stories is how Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank and began the micro-credit movement that holds the potential to eradicate poverty, one person, one problem at a time. His story does not begin with a great theory or vision born out of his education as a professor of economics in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries.

It began with a stroll through the local market during a famine. The great professor left his Ivory Towers of academia to meet a poor woman and mother, who toiled all day for two pennies. Yes, two cents to feed, house, clothe and educate her family. She made bamboo stools, but because she lacked twenty cents to buy the raw bamboo needed to make a stool she was forced into indentured servitude to a master, who sold her the bamboo and bought her beautiful product at whatever price he saw fit to give her. She could not break this cycle of poverty...for lack of twenty cents.

Around the village, Dr Yunus discovered dozens of other stories just like this one. So he thought...I am a professor of economics, if I can convince the banks to lend a few dollars then I can help. Do I need to even tell you how futile he found this whole process of trying to convince the banks to loan a few dollars to the poor? In the end, he took twenty-seven dollars out of his own pocket and lent it to that woman and forty others. Eventually they all paid him back with interest.

As a great professor of economics, he continued his struggle to convince the banks of his method. It became an on-going challenge...do it with five villages, do it with twenty-five, do it with fifty. He never did convince those traditional banks to lend to the poor, but out of his personal pocket and faith, he founded the Grameen Bank and the microcredit movement. In 2006, he and his bank won the Nobel Peace Prize. The United Nations and World Bank hold out great hopes for the future of this vision.

Will the simple erotic stories I write here ever win the Nobel Prize for Literature? Maybe not. Will the work that has been a burden on your heart repeat the success of Dr Yunus? Whether it is helping pregnant teens be better parents or providing a coat and blanket to that homeless veteran or simply taking them a bowl of soup, our simple steps may not win accolades or even be noticed. But that one step that you have wanted to take for so long will change the world...one person at a time. Even if that one person is you. Especially if it is you.